Thank you, greenfingers. A question: how did you attach the metal poles to the trough? Did you secure them with screws, or simply stick them in the dirt inside the trough? My garden has now begun. I bought several bags of professional growers' potting mix and mixed it with topsoil and composted manure, adding Plant Tone organic amendment to the mix, topped with bark mulch. Found a nursery nearby with very reasonable prices. Went looking for cypress but decided I wanted traditional Southern plants that I couldn't grow before in the colder climate in the mountains, and I wanted perennials that I could 'harvest' for natural materials when I decorate for the holiday season. So far I've planted containers with 'Heavenly Bamboo' nandina (amazing winter color and berries), gardenia radicans (blooms and fragrance right now), acorus (sweet flag, gorgeous variegated foliage, strong vertical accent), and camellia sasanqua 'Setsugekka'(evergreen, fragrant, midwinter bloom, elegant semidouble white flowers). I'm aiming for garden additions that are visually beautiful and also attract wildlife and/or are fragrant. But my real splurge was a 4x4 'Little Gem' magnolia, in bloom, espaliered on a trellis. It looks absolutely perfect against one of the privacy fences lining the deck, and I can see it from wherever I sit in my living room. I plan to plant annual vines at the base next spring and let them intertwine: purple hyacinth bean, maybe moonflower. I hope birds will nest in it next year. The garden already has hummingbirds zooming in and out (I put up a feeder) and a praying mantis has taken up residence too. The deck is already getting full, so I really must figure out something, like baker's racks. to hold more pots. The only way to go is up. I'm sure that's a common problem on this forum.

It will grow, don't fret! I planted 96K (full sun) this spring with no underground system and I wasn't about to drag hoses around. We had 2.5 weeks of no rain as soon as I planted and then a batch of heavy thunderstorms that washed 1/3 of my seed away. It came in semi thin with loads of crabgrass and other weeds. I hit it with Bayer advanced weed killer this summer and that killed off most of the weeds and slowed the crabgrass. I haven't fertilized at all. I just overseeded it during the last week of August and I have sprouts everywhere. I'm going to apply a winterizer next month and a very thorough pre-emergent in the spring and I'm quite certain I will have a beautiful 5 blend tall fescue lawn next year. It already looks very nice (tall fescue = super deep green...even in drought) but nowhere near what it will be. I'm guilty of abuse by most standards and recklessness by some but my yard is coming in fine and getting better by the week. Just relax a little and enjoy the new growth.

>I want something that is hardy and somewhat resistant to disease- Maybe Crepuscule and new dawn?? Hi vlodom, I was just going through some similar decisions recently and rhonda in upstate SC convinced me to go with Crepuscle. She posted a picture of it growing at one year old that is incredibly enticing. Plus, it will do that well in less than ideal sunlight. And it has few thorns. Just a really nice rose, I think. I've been interested in New Dawn too. Someone has been working on me towards one of New Dawn's seedlings: Penny Lane. That one has really good shade tolerance, she said, and she loved its fragrance. I assume it will grow as well in the Piedmont as New Dawn will, though she was writing from Kansas. Some other rambling or climbing roses you might take an interest in: Madame Alfred Carriere, Dublin Bay, Red Fountain, Quadra, Laguna, Reve d'Or, Jaune Desprez, William Allen Richardson, Sympathie, Goldfinch, Creme de la Creme, Climbing Pinkie (especially the cultivar at the Antique Rose Emporium). If you'd really like a lot of bushiness as well as the ability to put out some long canes, then take a look at Ghislaine de Feligonde. It ought to mix well with Crepuscle too. Avoid Iceberg, including climbing Iceberg, if you want to try to avoid having to spray for blackspot on the east coast. I wanted Iceberg so much that I decided to give it a try anyway... but sure enough, all I'd read about it being more of a problem on this side of the country turned out to be correct. The best resource on the internet for investigating roses is HelpMeFind.com: http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/plants.php Good luck with your new house and yard! Best wishes, Mary Here is a link that might be useful: Crepuscle photo appears in this thread within Antique Roses Forum

Those are "Hens n Chicks", Sempervivum. They are a winter hardy outdoor succulent and will grow in just about anything. They are related to the NOT so winter hardy Echeveria.